Royals Pitcher With 2.25 ERA Recognized As SurpriseAll-Star Candidate

With April in the rearview mirror, the Major League Baseball season is no longer in warm-up mode. It's now a sprint to the All-Star break.

The Royals had an up-and-down April, but it could have been a lot more down if the starting pitching hadn't stepped up. Four Royals starters own ERAs under four, and the fifth is ace Cole Ragans, who has the best FIP (2.73) on the staff.

Ragans was an All-Star last year, and he very well might make it back again. But as of Friday, he probably isn't the Kansas City starter most deserving of a spot. Instead, it's a pitcher who wasn't even in the rotation last year.

On Friday, FanSided's Mike Gillespie named 27-year-old left-hander Kris Bubic among a group of Royals players who were deserving of All-Star consideration based on their standout performances to this point.

"Before his Sunday start against Houston, Kris Bubic was, at 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA, laying good groundwork for All-Star consideration. But the Astros... treated Bubic badly, knocking him around for four runs, five hits (including a home run and two doubles), and four walks in five innings," Gillespie wrote.

"Bubic's Sunday performance was his worst of the season and marked the first time he's failed to pitch into the sixth inning. One loss, though, won't ruin his All-Star chances."

On the whole, Bubic still owns a 2.25 ERA and 2.89 FIP through six starts. Moving back to the rotation has been a seamless transition after Tommy John surgery limited him to bullpen duties for the 2024 campaign when he returned to the team last July.

There's a long way to go, and Bubic doesn't have the name value to earn a tiebreaker if the stats are close between him and other American League pitchers. But any ERA that starts with a two will always have a starting pitcher in contention.

More MLB: ESPN Writer Assigns Royals Middling Letter Grade For April Performance